Every effort would be made to extend help to the family of West Bengal native Nasir Hussain who died on Thursday after falling into a 15-metre-deep burning pit at a plywood factory at Odakkaly in Perumbavoor, said Labour Minister V. Sivankutty on Friday.
Hussain, who joined work as security guard four days ago, died while trying to douse the fire, the second at the factory in a month. It took much effort to extricate the body.
Mr. Sivankutty said the District Labour Officer (Enforcement) would take steps, along with the factory owner, to ferry his body to his hometown. Compensation will be made available to his family members under provisions of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Another ₹2 lakh would be provided to the family under the Inter-State Migrant Workers Welfare Scheme, 2010, he added.
Expressing concern over frequent deaths of migrant workers in Ernakulam district, Benoy Peter, Executive Director of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), attributed it to the overlooking of occupational safety measures by factory owners and others.
On the probability of workers’ families getting compensation, he said the process was often time-consuming and cumbersome, since documents such as legal heirship certificate must be produced. Rather than focus on compensation, measures must be taken to prevent such accidents, said Mr. Peter.
In a related development, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission has found that a factory at Payipra, that was engulfed by fire in December 2022, was operating despite expiry of licence issued by the grama panchayat. There was a transformer and five houses in the vicinity of the factory, the commission said, while hearing a complaint submitted by Manoj of Payipra Panchayat Janamunnetta Samithi.
It directed the panchayat secretary to probe the complaint that the factory’s chimney did not have the mandatory 30-metre height and filter, and that there was no road for fire tenders to gain access to the premises.
